Another week, another Bachelor couple admitting that their relationship has ended during an interview on the syndicated Extra entertainment news program. Oh what a busy December it's been for Bachelor/Bachelorette couple news.

In separate interviews broadcast by Extra on Friday, December 26, both Bob and Estella admitted that their relationship had ended. During her interview, a teary-eyed Estella admitted that while her feelings were sincere and she truly thought Bob was "the one," Bob's attempt to abandon his Michigan-based mortage broker career and use his newfound minor celebrity to re-launch his music career had placed them on "different paths" with different goals -- and Bob's path is a path that Estella could never follow.

In an interview for an upcoming People magazine story, Estella was even more blunt and also revealed that Bob broke up with her via a telephone call after they'd attended Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter's December 6 wedding together. "He's not the person I thought he was," says Estella. "I don't see any reason to ever have a conversation with him." She also showed a touch of bitterness and sarcasm when discussing their different goals in life. "The path that I'm taking is different from Bob's," she said. "He's a big-time star now! He's big-time, so my life doesn't compare to that."

For his part, Bob acknowledged during his Extra interview that the ending of his relationship with Estella was mostly "my fault" due to, among other things, the promotional and touring demands related to his new book and music CD. Later, however, Bob proceeded to blame extreme public scrutiny and numerous media "exaggerations" of some of his public behavior for causing the termination of his relationship with Estella, leaving viewers to wonder exactly how much responsibility (if any) he was actually accepting for the ending of their relationship.

Bob also gave People a similar explanation in their upcoming issue. "It was largely my fault" Bob tells the magazine. "I've been pulled in so many directions, and the one that I don't think got enough of my time was our relationship," he lamented. "For that, I feel awful." Despite having followed The Bachelor franchise since its first edition (when he first saw Trista competing for Alex Michael) and having himself appeared previously on The Bachelorette, Bob also once again inexplicitly tells People that he was surprised by the intense public scrutiny that came with starring on the program. "There was a tremendous amount of pressure, and it wasn't allowing us to explore where our relationship could go. ... I think this is the best path for us."

The Extra broadcast came only two days following a December 24 promotional appearance by Bob on a Detroit television station, in which he also made comments alluding to the fact that his relationship with Estella was over -- an action in sharp contrast to his early December move of emailing the local Detroit News newspaper to proclaim that the couple was "nowhere near splitsville," in response to a New York Post story stating that only three days after the series finale aired, Estella was already admitting to acquaintances that the relationship was over. Since neither Bob nor Estella made any mention of events occurring between early December and now that would have led to the breakup, it appears that Bob's denial was simply for public-relations purposes.

The December 26 breakup announcement, broadcast nationally only a little more than a month after The Bachelor 4's November 19 finale, will likely do little to silence the persistent rumors that the only reason Estella and Bob hadn't previously publicly confirmed their split was that they had to sign a contract to appear as a "happy couple" for one month after the finale aired. And considering that same production company recently sued Bob in an attempt to prevent him from marketing his 3 Sides album, clearly there's no love lost between the parties that would give Bob reason to continue the charade of a relationship for any longer than he was contractually obligated.

Despite such a contract, The Bachelor series is now a perfect 4-for-4 in producing short-lived post-show relationships. Perhaps that's why ABC's next series will be The Bachelorette 2, which is a perfect 1-for-1 in producing post-show weddings.